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11 December 2004
Canadian named Internet Ombudsman
After an extensive international search, Winnipeg native
Frank Fowlie has been named Internet Ombudsman by ICANN, the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN is the USA-based
non-profit that controls registration of generic top-level
domain names (.com, .org, ...) and runs the InterNIC website.
Fowlie, 47, says Internet access in the developing world is
a key concern.
A conflict resolution specialist, Frank Fowlie has worked
as an RCMP drug squad investigator in Montreal and Saskatchewan
and as a UN peacekeeper in East Timor, where he helped organize
their first Olympic team. He will be based in the Vancouver area,
but plans to establish an ombudsman office on each continent.
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1 December 2004
Clan Chief's Visit to Toronto
The hereditary Chief of
Clan Sinclair visited Toronto last weekend. The Right Honourable
The Earl of Caithness PC, Sir Malcolm Ian Sinclair, was Guest of Honour
on Saturday, November 27th at the St Andrew's Ball,
co-sponsored by the St. Andrew's Society of Toronto whose
current president is another Malcolm Sinclair - The Rev. Dr. Malcolm
Sinclair of Toronto's Metropolitan United Church.
The Military Band of the 48th Highlanders, co-sponsors of the Ball,
provided dinner music, then the Pipes and Drums of the 48th played for
Ceilidh Dancing in one room while Bobby Brown and the Scottish Accent
played for Scottish Country Dancing in another.
On Sunday the 28th, the Chief visited The Free Times Café
where Rory Sinclair, President of Clan Sinclair Canada, was playing with
his Celt-pop band, Gordon's Acoustic Living Room. Another visitor that
evening was webmaster Alastair McIntyre, who has posted photos and
a video clip of the band at Electric Scotland.
The last event of the weekend was Monday's pot luck at Rory's home,
a belated celebration of the Chief's birthday. In this tradition, begun
in 2000, clan members gather to sing Happy Birthday to the Sinclair clan
chief (usually via telephone) and honour our Scottish heritage.
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24 November 2004
The Tragically Hip in Hall of Fame
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has announced
the induction of Kingston Ontario's own The Tragically Hip into
The Canadian Music Hall of Fame. They will be honored at the 2005 Juno awards ceremony in Winnipeg.
Winners of 11 Junos over their 21-year career, The Hip - bassist Gord Sinclair,
guitarists Rob Baker and Paul Langlois, drummer Johnnie Faye
and lead vocalist Gord Downie - are currently touring across Canada,
promoting their latest CD: In Between Evolution.
For further information on The Tragically Hip, check out
their website
TheHip.com or visit The Hip FAQ.
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8 October 2004
The Chief on Canada AM
On Tuesday, October 12th, watch Canada AM on CTV Television for
a segment that features the Chief of Clan Sinclair with a representative
of VisitScotland, reportedly preparing a delicious Scottish breakfast.
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7 October 2004
2005 Gathering: Application Deadline
The Autumn 2004 issue of Roslin O Roslin includes an application form
for those wishing to attend the 2005 Clan Sinclair Gathering
in Scotland. The Canadian Association has been assigned 40 places, and the tour
cost is $750 per traveller, Canadian funds. The application deadline is November 1st.
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16 August 2004
Preservation Work at Castle Sinclair Girnigoe
This week masons are starting work to preserve the chimney stack
and entrance archway in the outer bailey at the west end of Castle Sinclair Girnigoe.
The 14th century castle sits on a cliff-top at Noss Head
near Wick, overlooking Sinclair's Bay; unoccupied since the siege of 1690,
it is now undergoing a £400,000 renovation funded by the World
Monument Fund, Highland Council, Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise,
Historic Scotland and Clan Sinclair Trust
donors. The scaffolding must be completed before winter sets in. The castle
will have disabled access when it is re-opened as a tourist attraction in
Summer 2005.
For more information, visit the Caithness Castles
website hosted by Caithness.org, where you will find many excellent
photos taken at different stages of the project.
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14 August 2004
Canadians at World Pipe Band Championships
In the 2004 World Pipe Band Championships held at Glasgow Green,
Canada's Simon Fraser University Pipe Band
(from the Vancouver area) placed second in Grade 1 to its rival Field Marshall Montgomery Pipe Band
(Northern Ireland), but first in Drumming.
Both bands have now won four world championships.
Four Canadian pipe bands were part of this year's exciting
Grade 2 competition: SFU's junior band, Robert Malcolm Memorial,
placed second to Balinderry Bridge (Northern Ireland), the Windsor Police
were fourth, Glengarry
placed sixth and the Niagara Regional Police Pipe Band
- champions at this year's Georgetown and Hamilton Games -
placed 9th in Grade 2.
The Scottish Snippets
newsletter at Rampant Scotland
reported that the event drew 8,000 musicians in over 230 bands,
with 40,000 spectators on a rare warm, dry afternoon. Besides
the pipe band championships, there were Highland dancing and
Drum Major competitions, and the European Highland Games
Heavy Events Championship. For detailed results, visit Scotsman.com.
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4 August 2004
Halkirk Games 2004
Once again the Halkirk Games
were a great success. Margaret Lady Thurso was Chieftain of the
Games, and the Sinclairs and Gunns were well represented - among them
our Chief and Viscount Thurso. Next year, the Sinclair Gathering 2005
will visit the Halkirk Games.
The weather was fine, and photographer Bill Fernie took many excellent
pictures. To see them, visit the photo galleries at the Caithness
Community Web Site, Caithness.org
under Entertainment - Local Galas.
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2005 Clan Sinclair Gathering in Scotland
The 2005 Gathering of Clan Sinclair will begin early Friday July 22nd
when our group departs by bus from Inverness, Scotland, and continue through
to the group's arrival back in Inverness on the evening of Monday August 1st.
The Gathering is being organized by the Clan Sinclair Society
of Caithness. Some highlights: a long weekend in Orkney; a week in Caithness,
including a ceilidh and fireworks at the Castle; and clan
participation in the 2005 Halkirk Games
on Saturday July 30th. The latest draft itinerary
and Gathering guide are posted at the UK website www.ClanSinclair.org.
Space is strictly limited, and CSAC members must pre-register
as soon as possible with the Association President.
The current cost estimate is £300 per person, not including
accommodation; deposits will be required with your application.
The round trip from Canada to Inverness is the responsibility of
participants.
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19 July 2004
Preview: The Templars in America
Posting to the Sinclair-Discussion
list, senior UK clansman Niven Sinclair heartily recommends
The Templars in America - "the definitive work on
Prince Henry Sinclair's momentous voyage".
The Templars in America, by British researchers Tim
Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins, is scheduled for paperback
publication in November 2004 from Red Wheel/Weiser,
Boston with a forward by Patricia and Lionel Fanthorpe,
and can be pre-ordered online through Amazon.
Niven's recommendation: "It should be on everyone's Christmas
list."
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16 July 2004
Clan Sinclair honoured at Grandfather Mountain
At the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games
in Linville, North Carolina on July 8-11, 2004, our Chief was
the Guest of Honour and Clan Sinclair, the Honoured Clan. Isla St Clair
was a featured entertainer, and piper Rory Sinclair, President of Clan
Sinclair Association Canada, played for the clan.
The weather was excellent, and everyone had a wonderful time. Read reports
sent to the Sinclair Discussion List. For more information, and six albums
of photos, visit organizer Mel Sinclair's family website.
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8 April 2004
Flowers of the Forest : Lord Sinclair
Charles Murray Kennedy St Clair, Major The Rt Hon
The Lord Sinclair CVO DL, passed away last week in Dumfriesshire.
Read the
article from The Scotsman of April 8th.
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04 April 2004
Clan Sinclair Western Canada Annual Gathering
On Sunday, April 4th, 2004 - the closest weekend to Tartan Day -
the Western Branch's third annual gathering was held in the James Bay
area of Victoria BC. Guest of Honour was CSAC President Rory Sinclair,
from Toronto.
Following lunch in Jonathan's at the Royal Scot, where there was
discussion of the previous evening's Tartan Ball, Rory piped the group
down Menzies Street to the New Horizons.
The meeting featured a video on Sinclair castles in Scotland, brought
by Rory, and a report (with PowerPoint slide show) by the branch's Vice
President, Jim Sinclair, on last year's gathering in Nova Scotia where
he met his Nova Scotia cousins for the first time.
The main business item was election of Western Canada officers: Mary Sinclair Stickel
is now Past President and Jim Sinclair
became branch President. Sylvia Sinclair
continues as Secretary for Clan Sinclair Western Canada.
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29 February 2004
CSAC Annual Winter Gathering
On Leap Year Day, Sunday, February 29, 2004, CSAC members and
friends met at their usual Winter Gathering place, the University
Womens' Club on St George Street in Toronto.
The "meet & greet" started at noon,
followed by lunch, and this Annual Winter Gathering was
another great success.
Sporting Sinclair ties (L-R): Treasurer Ewen Sinclair, Neil
Sinclair of Toronto and his brother Victor of Brampton, Dr Duncan
Sinclair of Aylmer Ontario.
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